Whilst little regard is paid to the liberty of strangers, custom everywhere, as a rule, forbids the enslaving of tribesmen. Yet sometimes a father’s power over his children,13 as also a husband’s power over his wife,14 involves the right of selling them as slaves; and among various peoples a person may be reduced to slavery for committing a crime,15 or for insolvency.16 Among the tribes of Western Washington and North-Western Oregon, if an Indian has wronged another and failed to make compensation, he may be taken as a slave.17 The Papuans of Dorey had a law according to which an incendiary with his family became the slave of the late proprietor of the burned house.18 Among the Line Islanders of Micronesia, if a man of low class stole some food from a person belonging to the “gentry,” he became the slave of the latter and lost all his property.19 Sometimes a man is induced by great poverty to sell himself as a slave.20 But most intra-tribal slaves are born unfree, being the offspring of parents one or both of whom are slaves.21

In descriptions of slave-holding savages it is often said that a master has absolute power over his slave. But even in such instances, when details are scrutinised, it frequently appears that custom or public opinion does not allow a person to treat his slave just as he pleases. We have noticed above that in many cases the master is expressly denied the right of killing him at his own discretion.22 More commonly than one would imagine the master has not even an unlimited right to sell his slave. Among some peoples he may sell at will such slaves only as have been captured in war or purchased, not such as have been born in the house.23 In several instances a slave, and especially a domestic slave, cannot be sold unless he has been guilty of some crime or misdemeanour.24 Among the Banaka and Bapuku in the Cameroons the master may chastise or send away a slave who has behaved badly, but is not allowed to sell him.25 There are, moreover, instances in which the master is entitled not to all the services of his slave, but only to a limited portion of them. In some parts of Africa the slave is obliged to work for his master on certain days of the week or a certain number of hours, but has the rest of his time free.26 In the highlands of Palembang, Sumatra, a slave may carry on trade and hire himself out as a day labourer on his own behalf, and when he works in the field one-half of his harvesting belongs to him and the other half to his master.27 Where the slave is allowed to possess property of his own he may in some cases,28 though not in all,29 buy his freedom; and debtor-slaves are as a rule entitled to regain their liberty by paying off the debt.30 Many peoples even permit a dissatisfied slave to change his master. Among the Washambala, if a person does not fulfil his duties towards any of his slaves, the latter has a right to complain of him to the chief, and should the accusation prove true the chief buys the slave of his master for an ox and two cows, and keeps him for himself.31 Among other peoples a slave, in order to get a new master, has only to cause a slight damage to somebody’s property, or to commit some other trifling offence, in which case he must be given up to the person he “injured.”32 It is astonishing to notice how readily, in many African countries, slaves are allowed by custom to rid themselves of tyrannical or neglectful masters.33 The Barea and Bazes have a law according to which a slave becomes free by simply leaving his lord.34 Among the Manipuris, in Further India, if a slave flies from one master and selects for himself another, it is presumed that he has been badly treated by the first one, and the fugitive can consequently not be reclaimed.35

A slave among the lower races can thus by no means be described as a being destitute of all rights. As a rule, it seems, he is treated kindly, very commonly as an inferior member of the family.36 Among the Aleuts a slave suffering want would bring dishonour upon his master.37 The South American Mbayás, says Azara, “aiment extraordinairement tous leurs esclaves; jamais ils ne leur commandent d’un ton imperieux; jamais ils ne les reprimandent, ni ne les châtient, ni ne les vendent, quand même ce seraient des prisonniers de guerre…. Quel contraste avec le traitement que les européens font éprouver aux africains!”38 In West Africa “the condition of slavery is not regarded as degrading, and a slave is not considered an inferior being.”39 On the Gold Coast, with the exception of the unpleasant liability of being sent at any moment to serve his master in the other world, the lot of a slave is not generally one of hardship, but is on the whole far better than that of the agricultural labourer in England. The slave is generally considered a member of the family, and if native-born succeeds in some cases in default of an heir to the property of his master.40 In the Yoruba country it was quite common for a slave to be named by his master in his last will to be the factor or general manager of the estate, and to be left to take care of the entire establishment.41 Among the Kreis Kita, of the French Soudan, the master calls his domestic slaves his sons, and they call him their father; nay, the natural guardian of an heir who is not yet of age is not his mother, but the eldest domestic slave of the household.42 Speaking of the natives in the region of Lake Nyassa, Mr. Macdonald remarks that most Africans like to see their slaves become rich; “Are they not,” they say, “our own children?”43 Among the Wabondei, “if a man buys a slave, he calls his own children and says, ‘Behold your brother.’ The slave is treated as a son, and is neither beaten nor tied.”44 In Madagascar the slaves “are kindly treated by their masters, they are considered as a kind of inferior members of the family to whom they belong, and many of the slaves have a practical freedom of action to which the free population are quite strangers.”45 The slavery prevalent among the native races of the Malay Archipelago is generally mild. In Borneo, says Mr. Boyle, “we always found a difficulty in distinguishing the servile portion of a household from the freeborn population, and the honours and distinctions open to the latter class are likewise accessible to the former.”46 The slave-debtors of the Dyaks are “just as happy in this state—living in their creditors’ houses and working on their farms—as if perfectly free, enjoying all the liberty of their masters.”47 Among the Chittagong Hill tribes the debtor-slaves were treated as members of the creditor’s family, and were never exposed to harsh usage.48 Among the Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush slaves are sometimes chosen among the annually elected magistracy, and Sir Scott Robertson knew of a case in which a master and his slave went through the ceremony of brotherhood together.49

It appears that intra-tribal slaves, especially such as are born in the house, are generally treated better than extra-tribal or purchased slaves,50 and that slaves are most oppressed by their masters when they belong to a different race.51 We are told that among the South American Guaycurus the two causes of slavery, captivity and birth, imply a certain difference of caste, which is maintained with great rigour.52 Mungo Park observes that in Africa the domestic slaves or such as are born in their master’s house are treated more leniently than those who are purchased.53 “I was told,” he says, “that the Mandingo master can neither deprive his slave of life, nor sell him to a stranger, without first calling a palaver on his conduct, or, in other words, bringing him to a public trial; but this degree of protection is extended only to the native or domestic slave.”54 Tuckey makes exactly the same observation as regards the natives of Congo.55 On the Gold Coast slaves are of three kinds—native-born, imported, and prisoners of war; and “a distinction is always made between the first and the two latter, who are treated with far less consideration.”56 Speaking of the Central African tribes generally, Mr. Rowley states that slavery assumes a much severer character among the pastoral than among the agricultural tribes, because the slaves of the former are for the most part captives of war, whereas those of the latter have rarely been acquired by conquest but mostly by inheritance. Among the agricultural tribes, he adds, persons who are in bondage are not called slaves but children, and those to whom they are in bondage are not called masters but fathers.57 Among the Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush all slaves “are not of the same social position, for the house slave is said to be much higher in grade than the artisan slave…. The domestic slaves live with their masters.”58

Among the nations of archaic civilisation slavery presents essentially the same characteristics as among the lower races. In ancient Mexico there were various classes of slaves—prisoners of war, criminals condemned to lose their freedom, children sold by their parents, and persons who had sold themselves. The relations between master and slave are represented as friendly.59 “Slavery in Mexico.” says Mr. Bancroft, “was, according to all accounts, a moderate subjection, consisting merely of an obligation to render personal service, nor could that be exacted without allowing the slave a certain amount of time to labour for his own advantage.”60 Masters could not sell their slaves without their consent, unless they were slaves with a collar, that is, runaway, rebellious, or vicious slaves, who in spite of two or three warnings did not mend their behaviour.61 Their children were invariably born free;62 and when their masters died they generally became free themselves.63

In China the slave class is composed of prisoners of war, of persons who sell themselves or are sold by others, and of the children of slaves;64 and in former days public slavery was a punishment for crime.65 It is true that the penal code forbids the sale of free persons; according to the letter of the text even the father of a family must not sell his children,66 and persons who voluntarily submit themselves to be sold are punished by law.67 But these regulations are frequently transgressed; in times of distress children are often sold by their parents, and the kidnapping of children is an even more common source from which the supply of slaves is kept up.68 The master’s power over his slave is not quite absolute,69 but it seems to be fully as great as the father’s power over his child.70 A master who falsely accuses his slave suffers no punishment for it; on the other hand, a slave cannot complain in a court of justice of ill-treatment from his master.71 Yet the condition of slaves in China is generally easy enough.72 “In all Chinese families of ‘the upper ten thousand,’ an intimacy exists between masters and men-servants on the one hand, and mistresses and female servants on the other. Servants not unfrequently make suggestions in reference to the well-being of the family, and in many instances, domestic matters of a grave nature are discussed before them.”73 In Chinese novels the servant is the confidant of his master, and harsh behaviour towards slaves is only attributed to vicious persons;74 according to the Divine Panorama, he who beats or injures his slave without estimating the punishment by the fault is tormented in hell.75 Many travellers have pointed out the difference between the comparatively happy condition of slaves in China and the degraded position of the former negro slaves in European colonies and the United States of America.76 “In China,” it is observed, “the identity of blood, colour, race, and habit between master and servant, operates as a restraint on the avarice, vices, and cruelty of the former, which would not be the case if they were of different races as in America.”77